Students and local residents will have the chance to catch a birds-eye view of Hillsdale on Sunday, Sept. 11, during the seventh annual Patriot’s Day Fly-In.

From 7 a.m. to 2 p.m, the Hillsdale Municipal Airport will offer plane and helicopter rides, breakfast, raffles, and a military aircraft display.

Airport Manager Ginger Moore said the event is held on or near 9/11 each year.

“There’s always been what we call the ‘fly-in’ or ‘dawn patrol,’ which is where pilots look for a place to go to have breakfast. That tradition has been going on ever since I was a little kid,” Moore said. “We changed it to the second Sunday in September about seven years ago and we called it the Patriot’s Day Fly-In in honor of 9/11.”

Moore said she expects a turnout of more than 1,000 people, including many first responders and soldiers. 

“We have a lot of our veterans and military come to the event and we also get a lot of old warbirds and experimental aircraft,” Moore said. “We’ll have our local fire, police, and ambulance here with their trucks on display as well.”

The Yankee Air Museum, an aviation history museum near Detroit, will provide a UH-1 Huey Greyhound at the fly-in. The helicopter served in combat in Vietnam from October 1967 to December 1971 with the 240th Assault Helicopter Company, according to the museum’s website. 

Attendees will have a chance to ride in the Huey helicopter for $99 a person, and there will be a raffle drawing at 11 a.m. for a chance to win a free ride. The airport will also offer $30 airplane rides and $40 small helicopter rides. 

The Hillsdale Exchange Club sponsored the fly-in, which will include a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, and fruit cups. The meal will cost $7 for adults and $4.50 for children. Other attractions include Maria’s Tacos food truck, a classic car cruise-in sponsored by the Hillsdale Bicentennial Car Club, and a 50/50 raffle.

Jacob Hooper ’22 said he attended last year’s fly-in event and enjoyed seeing Hillsdale from a new perspective. 

“I flew in a helicopter and a small plane. Seeing the college campus and my house from above was so cool,” Hooper said. “We also flew over the city and Baw Beese, which was crazy to see just how big the lake was and how small the buildings were downtown.”